In celebration of Women’s History Month, Kate Spencer explores the contributions of women in medicine, featuring both well-known figures like Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie, as well as overlooked pioneers such as Italian anatomist Anna Morandi Manzolini and Native American nurse Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail. It will delve into the medical and social history of vaccinations, the struggles for women’s rights within the field and the evolving discourse around abortion rights. Looking to the present and future, the discussion will also examine the revolutionary gene-editing technology CRISPR—its vast potential, and its ethical implications.

Spencer grew up near the Rocky Mountains in Montana before moving to western Massachusetts, where she built a career in the music industry, manufacturing banjos and later running a music store specializing in stringed instrument repair and sales. She recently wrote, illustrated and published The Cat Who Walked the Camino, a story about a kitten’s pilgrimage across northern Spain. Over the past year, she has been researching and writing A Brief and Interesting History of Women in Medicine, a collection of eighteen biographies highlighting the challenges and achievements of women in the field from Classical Greece to the COVID era. RSVP requested.